Anybody have any ideas on how we should attack a 4 man rush? Or why teams consistently rush 4 and drop 7 in the post season...how do they know that will work?

Thoughts?

Because our O-line has been consistently overrated and does not play consistently well against strong front 4s.

They don't fear our run game and know they can still put pressure on Brady with only 4 rushers. That allows them to dime us to death and the offense to bog down.

The epitome of this is the safety Brady took on the grounding call in the last SB. Four rushers beat 7 blockers while Brady was looking for 3 receivers to get free against 7 defenders. And out of that he got 4 seconds to find somebody among 3 that were all double covered with an extra guy left over for the Giants. Absolutely disgraceful play by the line+helpers.

Came across this article today. I think it illustrates a point that our offense has struggled in the post season while dropping back 78% of the time as opposed to 72% in the regular season(which is already a very high number) I hope we come out tomorrow night and change this trend.

The Colts’ four-man rush vs. Brady

"Brady’s postseason play has been part of New England’s recent playoff problem. His 71.1 Total QBR in the regular season since losing Super Bowl XLII is fourth best in the league, but his 45.7 playoff QBR in that span ranks 19th.

Brady vs. 4 or Fewer Rushers

From 2008 till 2013 Brady has dropped back

71% of the time in the regular season. 78%* in the post season.

That means Tom Brady drops back 78% of the time in the playoffs. It is the highest % of drop backs by any QB other then Drew Brees in the post season for the last 5 years.

Comp pct. 65.0% in regular season. 59.9% in the post season

Yds per att 7.5 in the regular season, 6.4 in the post season.

TD to INT rate 89-37 in the regular season. 12-10 in the post season.

Total QBR 75.6 in the regular season. 35.0 in the post season.

"Brady has always been good against the blitz. He has 76 touchdowns and six interceptions when opponents send at least five rushers since the start of 2008 (including the playoffs). His plus-70 TD-Int differential is best in the league, and only Aaron Rodgers has even thrown 70 touchdowns.

The problem is teams don’t blitz Brady as often in the postseason. The 2007 Giants solidified a basic tenet for beating Brady: don’t rely on extra pass-rushers. Teams have followed that blueprint with success since the 2007 Giants".

Question....

Anybody have any ideas on how we should attack a 4 man rush? Or why teams consistently rush 4 and drop 7 in the post season...how do they know that will work?

Thoughts?

What exactly does your source mean by drops back 72% of the time? We don't pass that much, so what does this telling stat actually mean?

I have always assumed drop backs, meant passes? According to him from 07 to 13 we did 71 % of the time. Sounds about right, what is it 460 runs to 600 passes on average per season?

You think maybe he made the whole thing up?

He certainly didn't do his math right. In the 2011 regular season the Pats had 612 pass attempts and were sacked 32 times for a total of 644 pass plays. They ran 438 times. Adding that up, total scrimmage plays (excluding kicks) were 1082. 644 / 1082 = 59.5% and that's for the dreaded pass crazy O'Brien season. Quote someone who gets his basic facts right and maybe we can discuss.

While I understand your point digger, what about in reference to the offense and the post season struggles.

The playoffs are hard. Joe Montana and the 49ers had three straight one-and-dones in 1985-1987. Montana’s passer rating for those games was 65.6, 34.2 and 42.0. He threw 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

Just stop imbecile. You make excuses all f'n day long for every defender that stubbs their freaking toe, but don't even acknowledge Brady got sacked 5 times and hit 25 times in the 2007 SB, and laugh it off when losing the by far greatest weapon Brady has had in years; Gronk, and expect the offense to excel anyway.

What exactly does your source mean by drops back 72% of the time? We don't pass that much, so what does this telling stat actually mean?

Percentage of drop-backs against 4 man fronts only? It's actually not that telling because most 4 man fronts you are going to see are going to be in nickel formation. Base defense would present a five man front more often.

I have Brady throwing 59% of the time against 4 man fronts this season, and throwing 57% as a team for the entire season (their highest total ever in terms of % passing, though it's to be expected considering New England was basicaly the comeback team in a lot of games).

So I have no idea, on god's green earth what he actually means by "drop backs."

I see no conceivable way to contort those numbers an extra 10% let alone the 20% he is claiming for the playoffs. Perhaps he means non-shotgun snaps?

Anybody have any ideas on how we should attack a 4 man rush? Or why teams consistently rush 4 and drop 7 in the post season...how do they know that will work?

Thoughts?

Because our O-line has been consistently overrated and does not play consistently well against strong front 4s.

They don't fear our run game and know they can still put pressure on Brady with only 4 rushers. That allows them to dime us to death and the offense to bog down.

The epitome of this is the safety Brady took on the grounding call in the last SB. Four rushers beat 7 blockers while Brady was looking for 3 receivers to get free against 7 defenders. And out of that he got 4 seconds to find somebody among 3 that were all double covered with an extra guy left over for the Giants. Absolutely disgraceful play by the line+helpers.

Anybody have any ideas on how we should attack a 4 man rush? Or why teams consistently rush 4 and drop 7 in the post season...how do they know that will work?

Thoughts?

What I have observed most times, the O-line IS having problems with a four man rush. Simple as that. Opponents see that and, therefore, do not feel the need to rush more than 4 most times. Especially from an outside edge rusher who collapses the pocket so fast Brady can't make his typical side step moves or step up.

Another clue, the Pats do not stretch the field and are mostly a short to middle passing team. So when coverage drops back, the opposing d-backs have no fear for a deep threat and can clog the short to mid lanes. This requires more time for routes to develop to counter these defensive moves and, by then, Brady is just about out of time.

So your post boils down to...Brady doesn't do well unless he has Gronk? Man, I hope that isn't true, or we are getting piggly wigglied tomorrow.

I also remember our old defense using lots of blitzes, especially safety and corner blitzing....but hey who am I to question your wealth of knowledge.

1.) They have an amazing chance to win tomorrow. Indianapolis vs the Giants/Ravens front seven? New England can run the ball on Indy and feed off that.

Here is New England's running line against Baltimore in the last four contests, in which they are 2-2.

113 att351 yds3.1 avg 2 FUM 5 TDs 14 TFL

Tackles for a loss are essentially like a sack. It's just so bad.

Indy can't touch that. They are ranked exactly one spot above the Bills in run defense and are even worse in pass defense - the Bills have the 3rd best pass defense by rating and 4th by yards. The Colts are 18th and 13th.

New England can win that ball game.

That is what is so frustrating about all of these injuries: the AFC is so d-a-mn winable.

But ... to be honest ... New England will get piggly-wigglied against the Seahawks or 49ers. Outside of some miracle, I don't think they have the horses to compete against those teams minus Gronkowski.

2.) New England still blitzes corners: they sent Arrington a few times against the Bills. It was hilarious because Manuel didn't even notice him until the fifth time.

This is all good observation. It is pretty obvious that the two teams we have had the hardest time with for many years now, are the Ravens and Giants. And that is because they match up well with us because they have nasty bastads on the D-line. Our O-line doesn't fare so well against those mauling type players.

Take way Gronk and our biggest counter to that deficiency vaporizes.

(Interestingly, it looks like Rex Ryan is trying to build that type of team. He has picked 4 DLers in the last 3 drafts using three 1st rounders and a 3rd. We all know his job is to beat us and win the division first and foremost. I think he's trying to emulate the Giants/Ravens in that endeavor and it just might work if BB doesn't come up with something better than he has been. Unfortunately he has had to spend so many picks on D to make up for previous fails that the O too is now staring to get thin.)

I went to the link. I'm not sure what that stat is supposed to be. I think it may be the percentage of times teams sent four or fewer pass rushers after Brady when he drops back.

That is it!

Percentage of his drop backs THAT faced a four man rush or fewer.

So, he is trying to illustrate that teams don't blitz Brady in the regular season, and they blitz him even less in the playoffs.

Duh. The guy has a ridiculous rating against the blitz.

Still, someone brought this question up the last two times New England played the Colts: how can you compete against a defense that can send four and get pressure?

They won those games so ...

The statistic ends up being more about how defenses adjust to our passing game then what our offensive coordinators call. Actually, nothing here surprises me. Blitzing Brady is well known to be a losing proposition in most cases, so it doesn't surprise me that teams don't blitz him much. In fact that's why the whole idea that teams know that the Pats are passing and therefore "tee up" on Brady doesn't make sense. Turns out teams don't blitz often . . . and the playoff defenses blitz against Brady even less than regular season defenses.

I will say that in the 2010 playoff game the Jets did a good job confusing our offense by showing blitz and not doing it (or doing it only occasionally). It was a clever defensive strategy that did work well against our offense. Rex deserves some credit for creativity in disguising what he was doing.

I went to the link. I'm not sure what that stat is supposed to be. I think it may be the percentage of times teams sent four or fewer pass rushers after Brady when he drops back.

That is it!

Percentage of his drop backs THAT faced a four man rush or fewer.

So, he is trying to illustrate that teams don't blitz Brady in the regular season, and they blitz him even less in the playoffs.

Duh. The guy has a ridiculous rating against the blitz.

Still, someone brought this question up the last two times New England played the Colts: how can you compete against a defense that can send four and get pressure?

They won those games so ...

The statistic ends up being more about how defenses adjust to our passing game then what our offensive coordinators call. Actually, nothing here surprises me. Blitzing Brady is well known to be a losing proposition in most cases, so it doesn't surprise me that teams don't blitz him much. In fact that's why the whole idea that teams know that the Pats are passing and therefore "tee up" on Brady doesn't make sense. Turns out teams don't blitz often . . . and the playoff defenses blitz against Brady even less than regular season defenses.

I will say that in the 2010 playoff game the Jets did a good job confusing our offense by showing blitz and not doing it (or doing it only occasionally). It was a clever defensive strategy that did work well against our offense. Rex deserves some credit for creativity in disguising what he was doing.

It was not rex, it was jim leonhard's idea. Source: peter king si article.

That could be. I don't know much about who designs the game plan for the Jets.

Here's another common theme contributing to Brady "pedestrian" performance since his 10 - 0 run... bears repeating... his simply does not have the same protection as he had in previous playoff games and, literally, started with the SB42 loss. Look at this past year, sacked 40 times compared to Manning's 18. This doesn't even count the pressures. A lot of folks have commented about the decline in the o-line play. Coincidence?

Here's another common theme contributing to Brady "pedestrian" performance since his 10 - 0 run... bears repeating... his simply does not have the same protection as he had in previous playoff games and, literally, started with the SB42 loss. Look at this past year, sacked 40 times compared to Manning's 18. This doesn't even count the pressures. A lot of folks have commented about the decline in the o-line play. Coincidence?

EXCUSE CITY...^^!

EXCUSE!

It only appears that way because he drops back by preference in the predictable shotgun spread more so than ever since 2005 40+ times a game!

I am not going to point this out again.

How can the O Line look so great when he doesn't over-use the shotgun and they establish a run, but look worse when they do the opposite?

I just gave you the answer. That's how!

Enough! It's over! Run the ball, Brady under Center more = SB appearance.

Rushing four and dropping seven is kind of the normal situation. If you can get good pressure rushing four and dropping seven then you have an advantage. But if you rush four and drop seven and get just average pressure then you're just average.